


the librarians

by bittersweetwhimsy



Series: men and monsters and spirits [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Reincarnation, Slow Burn, because when will i get them reunited again?, oh so much angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-01-04 21:01:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 16,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12176511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bittersweetwhimsy/pseuds/bittersweetwhimsy
Summary: librarians are immortal beings that are in charge of a library in a different region. wonwoo is one of these beings. junhui discovers the library and it's librarian. through the library he meets others and becomes a part of this magical world. what he doesn't realize is he much more entwined with this world than he ever thought he would be.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> hello, i'm alive! i'll be back more often through october.

“Mr. Librarian!” The librarian turns at the bright voice calling him. A small boy runs up to him with a book in his hands. “Can you help me read this book?”

The boy holds up the book. The librarian blinks before responding, “Why a book in Korean? Wouldn’t you prefer one in Mandarin?”

“Umm… my friend told me he’s heard you speaking it. He said it was enchanting. And-,“ The boy blushes, “I want to hear it too!”

The boy despite hiding most of his face behind the book, has bright earnest brown eyes staring up at him. The librarian smiles. “I suppose I can spend a few minutes reading it to you.”

The boy and librarian go to one of the armchairs in the library. The librarian puts the boy on his lap to allow to see the words. The already deep voice of the librarian sounds even deeper in Korean. The boy can’t stop his widening smile.

A smaller librarian watches the sight from behind one of the bookshelves. His familiar follows closely behind wagging its tail at the adorable sight. Someone tugs on his robe. It’s a different boy but with elven ears.

“Excuse me, but have you seen my friend, Junhui? He’s about this tall.” The elven ear boy puts his hand slightly below the smaller librarian’s chest. “He gets excited ea- oh!” The familiar jumps, knocking him down. “Haha hello there~.”

“Mingyu, down.” The dog whimpers a bit.

“It’s okay mister! I love dogs.” The elven ear boy buries his face into the dog’s fur. “Mingyu? What a nice name for a big dog.” The dog licks his face.

“Minghao?” The boy that was on the librarian’s lap is now staring at the sight, holding the hand of the librarian. “I wanna join too!” The boy lets go of the hand to join the elven ear boy with the dog.

Minghao looks up, “Junhui-ge! Auntie says you’ve been gone all afternoon!”

“Oh, oops.” The boy sheepishly pets the dog.

“Oops is all you have to say?” Minghao stands up. “C’mon we have to go! It’s dinner time!” He grabs Junhui’s hand.

“Ah wait! I didn’t get a chance to say bye to Mr. Librarian!” Minghao stops tugging at Junhui. The latter smiles and yells good bye to the taller librarian. The man waves back. The two boys dash out of the library. A fox at the entrance of the library watches them run toward their village.

The fox walks between the shelves to the librarians in a discussion.

“Honestly, you should know better than that.” The shorter librarian is scolding the taller.

“There’s no harm reading to that boy.”

“Besides, human lives are short compared to ours. Jihoon, you’re fretting too much.” An orange hair man removing his pelt addresses the short librarian.

“Hoshi where have you been?”

“Hm? Mingyu didn’t tell you two?”

“Hey! Wait! Don’t pin this all on me!” The dog hollers back. “Jihoon!” Mingyu whines turning toward his master.

The fox familiar snickers back. Jihoon sighs, “Wonwoo just don’t develop any unnecessary attachments.” He ruffles his familiar’s fur, “Come along Mingyu. We’ve finished our business here.”

The shorter librarian and his familiar walk into the east shelves.

Wonwoo turns to his familiar. Hoshi smiles, “They went home safely.”

 

What feels like only half a chapter long to Wonwoo, is when the bright-eyed boy returns.

The boy comes up to him while he is reading, “Mr. Librarian, do you have a name?”

“Everything has a name.”

“What’s yours?”

“My what?” He puts down his book.

“You know! Your name!”

“You would be correct in that I know my name.” The boy groans loudly. The edges of Wonwoo’s lips slightly curl upwards.

“Maybe I’m going about this wrong?” The boy frowns. Suddenly his face lights up. “My name is Wen Junhui. What’s your name?”

“My name is Mr. Librarian.”

The boy pouts, thinking hard, “That’s not actually your name…is it?”

Wonwoo throws his head back. Junhui is bewildered. The librarian is laughing without reserve. Hoshi looks up from his napping place on the top floor.

“Ah! IT’S NOT!” Junhui raises his hands to his ears.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, “My name is Wonwoo. But you can keep calling me Mr. Librarian if you would like.” Wonwoo swears the boy’s eyes are twinkling. “Hoshi come down here and introduce yourself while we’re doing introductions.” The fox jumps down from the upper balcony. Junhui jumps back a bit. Wonwoo chuckles, “This is Hoshi, my fox friend.”

“You’re friends with a fox?” The skepticism is high in Junhui’s voice. “I guess that would happen when no one else visits here.” The boy swears it looks like the fox is laughing at Wonwoo.

After his initial shock Wonwoo coughs, “I suppose so. Only a strange fox such as this would approach humans willingly.” The fox glares at Wonwoo. “What would you like to do?”

“Mmmm….” Junhui’s brows furrow in. “Can you read me another Korean book?”

“Do you have a book in mind?”

The earlier confidence dissipates. Junhui looks down, “Can it be a picture book? I want to follow along better this time.”

Wonwoo smiles, “Hoshi, grab me the bear book please.”


	2. Prologue pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> as such all good times must come to an end

Hoshi watches the season pass, as the two boys who visit the library keep growing. Their limbs get longer, faces slowly losing their baby fat. He’s not really certain if his master can tell the passing of time, as Junhui doesn’t look too different from the first time he came up to Wonwoo. Just probably a bit taller to his master and much more fluent in Korean.

Hoshi knows it’s the fourteenth autumn moon for Junhui. The awkward stage of a human in his opinion. He can smell chestnuts and lotus cooking, ready for the upcoming autumn moon festival. The village is in a frenzy. Junhui and Minghao haven’t visited the library this month. Actually, Junhui hasn’t visited in a while. Maybe since the spring moon. Which makes sense. The novelty of innocence starts wearing off at this age.

 

“Minghao are you making the moon cakes with me or not?”

“No.”

“What?! Why? Are my good looks driving you away? I can’t help that.”

“EW. No.” Minghao gives him a disgusted look for even suggesting that. He looks at the finished moon cakes. “Are you gonna visit the library with me this week?”

“I don’t feel like it.”

The elven eared boy crosses his arms, “When are you going to get over your crush on h-.“

Junhui covers Minghao’s mouth. “SHHH. Not so loud!”

The latter licks Junhui’s hand. The owner of the hand immediately let go, wiping his hand on Minghao’s arm. “Can you come this time? Wonwoo has been acting funny. I’m pretty sure he misses you. Hoshi misses you too.”

Concern flickers, before a playful expression sits on his face, “Fine. I’ll go at the insistence of my lil’ Hao Hao.” He croons pinching Minghao’s cheeks. “And only to see if Wonwoo is okay.”

“Stop that.”

 

The fox familiar gets up from his resting spot. He jumps down to the main floor. As he’s leaving, the librarian looks up. “Hoshi, why do you wait at the entrance?”

“I’m awaiting the two humans that come visit.”

“Foxes don’t guarantee a safe passage though.”

“Do you want them to arrive here in one piece or not.” Hoshi asks rhetorically.

“It would be unkind of me not to. Especially since they’re respectable boys.”

“Why can’t you be honest with yourself out loud,” Hoshi mutters under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” Hoshi chirps back. His fox ears pick up on the crunching leaves. “They’re here!” Before Wonwoo can ask, Hoshi sprints to the footsteps.

“Hoshi!” Minghao runs up catching the fox in his arms. The fox is excitedly licking his face. “Hoshi, calm down! Look who came with!” Hoshi stops licking Minghao’s face to look at the visitor.

“Whoa! Minghao you’re really friendly with that fox!” The fox jumps on Junhui. “Hey Hosh. Sorry, I’ve been busy at the village.” He pets the fox gently.

The other boy coughs, “Liar.” Junhui glares at him.

Hoshi beckons them in with his tail. The two follow.

Wonwoo hears his voice before seeing him. He can feel his body relaxing for some reason.

“Minghao just one book okay?”

“I should be telling you that!” The shorter boy retorts running to the north shelves with Hoshi following close behind. “Hello Wonwoo!”

Wonwoo waves to the boy. The other one is hiding behind a bookshelf but his shoulder peeking out from the shelf. He walks over. “Junhui, what are you doing?”

The human visibly jumps a bit. “W-wonwoo! Wh-what a surprise seeing you here.” Regret is painted all over his face as soon as the words tumble out.

“A surprise? Junhui I live here.”

“I knoooow. Please let me wallow here in peace.” He sinks to the ground, hiding his face behind his knees.

“Don’t stay too long. I hear there’s festivities being held soon.” Wonwoo pats the curled-up boy’s head.

“Thanks,” comes the muffled voice. Junhui peeks once he hears Wonwoo’s fading footsteps. His hand touches the part that was petted, murmuring “I wish you could come to the festival.”

The boys leave shortly before sunset but not before promising to come back with leftover moon cakes for Wonwoo and Hoshi to try after the harvest festival.

 

The low growling causes Wonwoo to look up from his book. Hoshi circles the entrance, hunched low to the ground. Ears back, fur bristled. “Hoshi what has you on edge?”

“Something is coming. All the creatures of the forest have fled.”

“Would you feel better entering your human form?”

“Would you feel better if I went to their village?”

“I’m just worried. Nothing good happens during the harvest festival with evil spirits around.”

“Really? You worried over a village? That’s new. Jihoon would have a good laugh at that.”

“Soonyoung.”

The man’s pelt flies off. He looks at his master with curiosity, “Strange. You haven’t called me by my old name in centuries.” Hoshi notices a small furrow in his master’s eyebrows. “I see, you’re that worried. Well I’ll protect the boys best as I can, but…”

“Don’t let them reject it.”

The fox nods. He puts back on his pelt, and sprints towards the village.

 

He doesn’t know how much time has passed, but his familiar hasn’t messaged him. Wonwoo picks up his go to book to calm down his nerves. He reads. Puts down the book. Picks the book up again. Puts down the book again. Not a single word on the page is making sense. How odd. This has never happened to him before. Maybe he should try a different book.

“That’s not going to help.”

Wonwoo turns around at the sound of the voice. “Jihoon.” The small librarian is here without his familiar. Another odd thing. “Where’s Mingyu?” 

“Guarding.” Jihoon waves his hand noncommittedly. “How are the humans?”

“They’re fine. The bright eye one is beginning to lose his magic like all his kind do. The elven ear one is showing signs of being one of us.” Jihoon raises an eyebrow. “His hair is turning silv- shit.” Wonwoo races toward the north shelves. “It should be here... Ah … Where is it?” His eyes scan the shelves for the book. This explains why Minghao has been coming to this area since the summer solstice. There’s the book!

Jihoon steps next to the shelf Wonwoo pulled the book from, “Wonwoo, it’s too late.”

“What are you ta-.“ The book falls from Wonwoo’s hand. Something happened to Soonyoung. Where is Soonyoung? He collapses. “Soonyoung…”

“WONWOO!” Jihoon dives to save the librarian’s head from hitting the shelf.

 

Minghao is lost, afraid, and lonely. Three things he thought he would never feel in his life. His tears won’t stop. Blood is everywhere. Hoshi’s hand is comforting him.

“Shhh… you’ll be okay. One of my friends will come here for you.” His breath is ragged. His fingers shake trying to soothe Minghao.

“Hoshi, I-“hic “- don’t want this.”

“I’m sorry, Haohao.” He gasps, “We should’ve noticed sooner. I’m sorry…Wonwoo, I’m sorry.” His fingers slip from Minghao’s face.

Minghao crawls over to Junhui. “Junhui-ge. Junhui-ge. Please wake up.” The other boy’s limp body moves along to Minghao’s shaking. “Please. I’m scared, Junhui-ge.” He knows it’s futile.  There’s an arrow sticking out from the older boy’s body.

Minghao looks up at the sounds of footsteps. He grabs the knife that Hoshi had in his pocket. The village he had grown up with is gone. All he knows is that he isn’t allowed to be taken by the spirits. But because of him everyone he knew is gone. His neighbors. His family. Hoshi. Junhui. Today was supposed to be a day of celebration. He doesn’t know if these footsteps are friend or foe. He looks up at the moon shining on him as if to single him out further.

“Moon spirit, please grant this one wish of mine.”

 

Mingyu runs. His legs feel too slow. If only he was more skilled in transformations. He hopes he can make it in time. Guarding the entrance to the forest library took more work than he thought. He hopes that boy with the twinkling bell laugh is okay. Something in him tells him the elven ear boy is not. The same thing causes him to stop. It’s Hoshi. He’s gone. Another sharp pain cuts through him. Mingyu isn’t familiar with this presence that just disappeared.

“Mingyu.” The voice is sad and defeated. “Come back after retrieving the body.” But his master knows.

 

Wonwoo is charged as guilty for manslaughter, irresponsibility of training a young mage, and trying to intervene with humans. He makes no effort to even try defending himself. The light is gone from his eyes. Jihoon watches as the mage court imprison Wonwoo. They break the spell that had tethered Wonwoo to the forest library for centuries. Before leaving the court room, Wonwoo and Jihoon lock eyes. Jihoon looks away first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry!!! ;-----;


	3. Moving On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath for Jihoon

Jihoon is assigned to the Eastern temple library. Was it a reward or a punishment? Maybe a luck of the draw. He can’t tell.

Years pass.

His familiar never got his spunk back after that night. Mingyu mopes around with his tail in between his legs. Jihoon can no longer bear Mingyu’s sadness. It’s suffocating. One day Jihoon comes back with a new familiar to pair up with Mingyu. It’s a brown owl. There’s nothing truly fearsome in its appearance or droopy eyes.

“Mingyu this is Jeonghan. Jeonghan, Mingyu. Don’t kill each other while I’m out getting supplies.”

At first the owl pokes around at Mingyu, trying to get his attention. The dog does nothing but lie there.  Mingyu eventually snaps at the owl. The owl chuckles. The owl turns into a man.

“Hey I know you’re sad and all, but I’m bored.” The dog huffs. “Hey tell me about this place. Jihoon brought me in saying I would gain a place to belong to.” Mingyu looks up at the last phrase.

“Do you feel like you belong here?”

“Not really. Jihoon doesn’t talk much. And you just mope here.”

Mingyu frowns, “What would make you feel like you belong here?”

“Someone to talk to. Someone to eat with. Something to make it feel like people live here, instead of being in a dusty old library that has no visitors.”

“Most libraries are visited.”

“Not these days. Magic is dying out. Lately only young human children possess the ability to see the super natural clearly outside of our kind.”

“Oh. So there’s no chance of anyone stumbling into here.” There’s no one for Jeonghan to talk to. Maybe it’s time to get over what happened years ago, Mingyu transform into a young man. It’s been a long time since he’s been on two feet. He stumbles over a bit but manages to catch himself. “What did you used to do prior to this?”

 

Jihoon returns to his familiars making a mess. “What. Are. You. Two. Doing?”

Jeonghan grins, “Making paper flowers. Mingyu is getting a hang of it! He’s pretty good at crafts!”

“Then what is this giant mess of scattered papers?”

“That’s from Mingyu sneezing.” Jihoon sighs.

Each day Jeonghan comes up with a different project to work on with Mingyu. Slowly, Mingyu’s spunk returns day by day. He discovers the joys of baking. Jihoon turns part of the library into a kitchen for Mingyu and Jeonghan.

Many years pass with the three of them caring for the library.

 

Until one day a boy wanders in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kicking off october with a bang! lol i'll be updating all of my fics this month (i swear i haven't forgotten about office breaks), but priorities to my own little festival of halloween themed fics (monsters and magic)


	4. The boy's discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back and with some new friends

Jeonghan is sweeping the entranceway while Jihoon and Mingyu are out on an errand. Jeonghan looks up at the approaching figure. The figure doesn’t seem to have noticed him yet. A sly grin appears in the fog.

Jeonghan situates himself behind a few rocks to get a view of the person. It’s a boy. A perfect opportunity.

“Hello there!” Jeonghan makes sure to use an announcer voice behind the boy.

“AHHHHHHHH!!!” The boy falls over.

“Sorry, it’s been awhile since I had anyone new to prank.” After several chuckles, Jeonghan helps the boy up, “Are you lost?”

“Maybe? I heard there’s a library up here. Am I near it?”

“Why are you looking for such a thing in dangerous places?”

“I heard that the librarians of these places grant wishes to children!”

Jeonghan chuckles, “I’m ‘fraid not. The librarians can’t do anything of that sort.” He takes a good look at the boy, “How long have you been looking for this library?”

“Not too long.” The boy’s stomach releases a loud growl. The boy blushes.

“Long enough from the sound of it.” Jeonghan smiles warmly, “Would you like some food? Don’t worry I’m not a dangerous spirit or creepy witch that will eat your flesh or something.”

“You know, I wasn’t worried about that until you brought that up.”

Jeonghan lets out a father laugh, “Would you like cookies or pasta?”

“Those are very two different options...”

“Our cook has a habit of making abundant amounts of either.”

 

In town, Mingyu sneezes. Jihoon looks at his familiar. “Is it pollen?”

Mingyu rubs his nose, “No it’s fall, Jihoon.”

 

“Hey kid, before I let you into my humble abode, I feel like I should know your name.”

“My name is Jun.”

“I’m Jeonghan. Let’s go eat!” Jeonghan grabs Jun’s hands. He looks back at the boy, “Don’t get too worried about the details.”

“Details? What de-TAILS!!!” Jeonghan leaps through a chasm behind him, dragging Jun in.

Jun tries not to scream. He shuts his eyes. It doesn’t quite feel like they’re falling but he knows they jumped off a cliff.

 

Jihoon snaps his head towards the mountain. “Someone’s in the library.”

“Isn’t it just Jeonghan, Jihoon?” Mingyu asks, while balancing the bag of groceries and supplies for Jeonghan.

“No. The owl invited someone in. I don’t understand why he would though. We need to return.”

“But Jihoon the doughnuts!”

 

“Awww we just met and you won’t let go of me! How cute!”

Jun opens his eyes. They’re on solid ground. Weren’t they flying through the mountains? He’s hugging tightly to Jeonghan’s waist. He pushes himself off Jeonghan. “Sorry! Wait, weren’t we just on the side of the mountiain?”

“Like I said don’t worry about the details.” Jeonghan waves his hand in a carefree manner. “Welcome to the place I call home.”

Jun looks around as Jeonghan heads to the kitchen. They’re in a temple- no a library? The building is definitely a temple. But there are shelves upon shelves of books.

“Is tea okay? Or would milk be better? You’re a growing boy, milk it is!” Jeonghan decides from behind one of the shelves.

It’s weird. Jun feels strangely at peace in here. He’s definitely never been here before, but there’s something comforting about the place. “Jeonghan, you have a really extensive book collection here. It’s comparable to a library’s collection.”

“Thanks! My friend loves collecting books. So, they’ve sort of gathered here. Sadly no one reads them.” Jeonghan looks up thoughtfully, “It’s been awhile since any of the books have been opened.”

“Why is that?”

“Do you see anyone?” Jun shakes his head. “No one visits here, because the owner of the place has made it difficult to find.” Jeonghan sets down two cups of milk on the table. “Well, come join me for cookies!”

Jun walks over to the sound of Jeonghan’s voice. Behind three shelves is a kitchen, a very modern kitchen compared to the rest of the building.

“Wasn’t expecting such an updated kitchen up here in the mountains, were you?”

“How did you get everything up here?”

“Magic.” Jun waits for the punchline.

There is nothing but Jun’s silence and the sounds of Jeonghan munching on cookies.

“You’re kidding me.”

“I’m not laughing.”

“Is magic real?”

“Of course, it is. It’s as real and alive as nature is.” Jeonghan looks at the skepticism behind the boy’s eyes. “Here, show up again tomorrow and I’ll prove it to you.”

“Really?”

“Really. Now take a cookie with you.” Jeonghan pushes Jun toward the back door to the kitchen.

“Wait, why is there even a back-“ Jun blinks.  “-door?” He looks at his surroundings. He’s back at the base of the mountain. The boy looks behind him. There’s no door. How did he get here? That would mean Jeonghan is right about magic existing. But magic hasn’t existed for centuries. Or has it?

“Junhui! Junhui!”

Junhui snaps out of his thoughts. He hollers back to the running figures toward him, “Joshua hyung! Seungkwan!” He runs toward them.

Joshua hugs him tightly before letting go to check him for injuries, “Junhui where have you been? Seungkwan and Chan have been worried all day.”

“Is that a cookie?! Where did you get a cookie?” The blonde boy points to Jun’s hand.

Junhui looks down at his hand. The cookie Jeonghan handed him is still there. “Oh, um, errr…”

“Hyung, can I try it?” Seungkwan eyes the cookie. Junhui nods.

“Seungkwan!”

“What? I wanna know if my parents made it.” He takes a bite of the cookie. “Huh, my parents definitely didn’t make this. There’s things in here they don’t use. But I don’t know the herbs. It’s really good, though!” Seungkwan scratches his head.

“Can I try too?” 

“Of course, Hyung!”

Joshua takes a bite and immediately spits out the cookie.

“Hyung are you okay?” Seungkwan and Junhui rush to Joshua.

Joshua coughs, waving the two away. “I’m fine. The cookie just went down the wrong pipe.” He wipes his mouth. “Let’s go back to town.” Joshua turns to stare at the eyes watching them. He puts a hand on Junhui’s shoulder, watching the eyes disappear.

The three leave the base of the mountain.

 

“Jeonghan.” Jeonghan flinches.

“Don’t scare me like that Jihoon, I could’ve dropped my glass of milk.”

“You don’t need milk. You’re a librarian’s familiar.” Jihoon’s eyes don’t miss the two glasses of milk in the sink.

“Then why do you let Mingyu buy groceries?”

“Jeonghan, you let a human in here didn’t you.”

“Is there anything wrong with letting one enter? It’s not forbidden.” Jeonghan takes a bite of Mingyu’s cookie.

“It’s not, but I would rather not. There’s a reason not even children can’t find this place on their own.”

“Here have several cookies!” Jeonghan shoves five cookies into Jihoon’s mouth.

“Je-aksdmfsmdamafsmmmmph.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you like my cookies that much Jihoon.” Mingyu appears with a bag of donuts dropping from his mouth. “Ah my donuts!” Mingyu stops to sniff the air. There’s a familiar scent about, but it’s not the same scent. He can’t place it.

“Am I actually going to develop owl tendencies like Mingyu has dog tendencies?” Jeonghan asks his master.

“Only if you stay in your owl form long enough.” Jihoon swallows the last bit of cookies. “Jeonghan, you didn’t notice anything strange about the human child you brought in?”

“Strange? Not particularly-shit.”

“Aha! You did invite a child in here! Mingyu, that’s a donut.” Jihoon runs over to the bag of donuts.

“Did you guys really bet on donuts if I invited a human in here?”

“These donuts are amazing Jeonghan! You need to try one. They’re from this cute bakery called Boovely Sweets.” Mingyu watches Jihoon dig through the bag.

“Anyways next time don’t shoo out the kid before either Mingyu or I arrive. I’m curious about them.”

“He should be here tomorrow.”

“Hmm… I have to run tasks around town tomorrow. Mingyu stay here.”

“What?! Don’t you need me to look more like an official adult?”

“Damn it.”


	5. Proof of Magic?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeonghan has a trick or two up his sleeves

Junhui was curious about how Jeonghan would prove to him that magic is real. Would he perform a trick like summoning something or cast a spell? What if he turned Junhui into something? The endless possibilities kept him wide awake throughout the night. Which is why he returned to the mountains the next day. To his surprise, as soon as he entered the base of the mountain, he is immediately transported to the entrance of the library.

Jeonghan greets him, “Hey Jun! Ready to see magic?”

 He was ready for magic. What he was not ready for was six plates of cookies to take home.

“Please tell me why I’m going to be taking home six plates of cookies?” An exasperated Junhui asks.

“Our cook got excited, and there’s only 3 of us that live here. Besides you’re a growing boy, you need all the food you can get.”

“I’m thirteen, I’m not a boy. I’m a teenager.” Junhui stands tall, sticking out his chest.

“Oooh, and thirteen makes you such an adult I suppose.” Jeonghan pokes at Junhui’s chest.

The boy rubs the spot Jeonghan poked at, “Yes.”

“Well guess how old I am?” Jeonghan grins.

“23.”

“Nope higher.”

“45.”

“Guess again.”

“You look no older than my mom!”

“Start with at least 100.”

“If this is your way of proving magic exists, this is lame. 125?” The boy crosses his arms.

“I have better tricks. One more guess.”

Junhui frowns, “150.”

“Try 809.”

“You said to start with at least 100.”

“100 was a starting point. You could’ve done any number from there.” Jeonghan turns away from the boy. “Now, watch this.” Jeonghan starts climbing one of the bookshelves.

“Why are you climbing a bookshelf?”

“To show you magic is real.”

“I can climb a bookshelf without having magic.”

“WELL, sorry for not being a better climber. I’m a better flier than climber. Why did Jihoon not make me something with more athletic ability and endurance?” He mutters the last part while heaving himself on to the top of the bookshelf.

The boy’s eyes pop open, “Did you say flier?”

Jeonghan turns around with an aggravating smug smile on his face, “Yes.” He crouches on the top of bookshelf. “Now watch closely.” Jeonghan leaps into the air.

Junhui covers his eyes. Silence. Junhui takes a peak at the floor. No Jeonghan. He looks up to the sound of flapping. A brown owl flies around the room. Jeonghan is nowhere to be seen. “Jeonghan?”

The owl dives at Junhui. The boy ducks.

“Silly, you don’t need to duck.” The familiar voice is back. Junhui turns around to see Jeonghan standing behind him holding an owl feather. “Did I prove my point?”

The boy stares at the feather and back to the man’s face. There’s no way…unless, “Are you a librarian’s familiar?!”

Jeonghan grins, “Looks like the cat is out of the bag. My friend who owns this collection is actually my master. A librarian.” Junhui’s eyes light up. “He’s pretty eager to meet you.”

Confusion settles over the boy’s face, “Why?”

“It’s not often human children can come close to finding this place. That’s why stories about these places are considered as legends and farmer wives’ folktale.” The owl man pats Junhui’s head. “Maybe there’s something special about you.” He regards the bright eyes.

The loud crash of thunder sounds behind the entrance doors. Both heads turn their attentions to the door.

The human looks toward the owl familiar, “Is there rain?!”

“No,” mutters a brow furrowed Jeonghan.

The large doors of the library swing open. The librarian looks around for the new presence in his library. He spies the human child with bright brown eyes. His eyes widen at the familiar human.

“BOY, WHAT IS YOUR NAME?” Jihoon thunders in with heavy footsteps.

“M-me?” The human backs up into a shelf. The librarian isn’t much taller than him but his presence fills up the room.

“Is there any other boy around?”

Junhui looks around, “No.” He clears his throat, “I’m Jun.” Jihoon glares at him. Librarians are real! Take that Seungkwan. Chan is going to be so excited. That is once the librarian stops glaring at him.

Jihoon recognizes those bright eyes. There’s no doubt about it. These are the same eyes that became Wonwoo’s downfall. But there’s no flicker of recognition in those eyes. It’s possible the boy lost his previous life memories. Then it’s for the best. Jihoon will wait to concur with Mingyu though.

The small man is still staring him down. “I had better go, then,” he nervously chuckles. He grabs the six plate of cookies from the table. Jeonghan opens the back door for the human boy just as Mingyu pops out from the entrance door.

His attention immediately goes toward the clean kitchen table, “Ah! He took my cookies! Does he like them?”

Grabbing the tardy man, the three hover together in hushed tones.

“Jihoon, why did you arrive like that?”

“I was in a hurry to catch the human. Mingyu, that kid…”

“His presence isn’t the same as last time.” Mingyu wrinkles his nose, uncertain. “But it’s most definitely the boy from Wonwoo’s library.”

Jeonghan’s brows raise in concern, “He’s not in danger, is he?”

“No. But he has magic this time. And it’s my duties as a librarian to instruct him.”

The owl familiar muses, “Wasn’t he human in his recent past life? Why does a human have magic?”

“Maybe we’ll know once we see him perform it.”

“Can he perform it? I don’t even think the kid realizes he has magic.”

 

He nearly stumbles when his feet hit the ground. Junhui arrives at the base of the mountain again. He looks back at the mountain. No sign of the door this time either.

“Aha! Hyung! You’re here again!” Seungkwan runs to him. “More cookies? Where did you get cookies from in the mountains?”

“Cookies?! Can I have some, please??” A voice pipes up behind Seungkwan.

“Channie, I would get in trouble from Joshua hyung if you ate before dinner.”

“Surely, there’s no harm in Chan having one cookie. Seungkwannie~. Junhui pleads the blonde boy.

“Hyung! Don’t butter me up!”

“C’mon Seungkwan hyung! Mommy and daddy won’t know! As long as you keep your lips sealed!” Chan pouts. “Besides Junnie hyung doesn’t need SIX plates of cookies.”

“What if I spill the crumbs?”

The other two boys groan. “Hyung, your jokes are the worst.”

Seungkwan peeks at the setting sun, “We better get going or else Joshua hyung is gonna give us all a scolding.” Seungkwan starts dragging both boys back to town. “But really Junhui hyung where did you get six plates of cookies?”

“The librarian’s familiar!”

Seungkwan drops Junhui’s arm. “Are you serious?”

“I knew it! They’re real! What does the librarian look like? Is his familiar a dragon? It has to be! Any being that cool has an awesome familiar!”

“He’s smaller than I thought they would be. He’s about 20 centimeters taller than me. And his familiar is an owl!”

Chan wrinkles his nose in disgust, “Owls aren’t cool.”

“Channie, be nice to all creatures.”

“Owls aren’t cool though.”

“Well you better run into town so they don’t attack you after sun down.” Seungkwan comments.

“Owls aren’t aggressive.”

“They will be after your comment about them.”

“OKAY WHO WANTS COOKIES?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i repeat do not jump off high places to prove you can fly. please do not follow jeonghan's example  
> it's okay jun i'm also bad at breaking up fights....


	6. Prestep One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon tries to show off

“Hey kid.” The small librarian is there glaring at him when he arrives today.

“Hello Mr. Librarian.”

The name bristles Jihoon, “Don’t call me that.”

“What should I call you?” The bright eyes blink in curiosity.

“You can call me Jihoon, like my familiars do.”

“That doesn’t seem very polite of me though. Does Jihoon-ssi work?”

“Sure, whatever as long as it’s not Mr. Librarian.”

Junhui looks around, “Where is Jeonghan?”

“He’s out running some errands for me.”

Junhui walks towards the fairy tale section of the library.

“Hey kid. Do you know what magic is?”

“Mhmm. Jeonghan showed me yesterday. He can change from a man to owl to man!”

“That’s one type. There is more than one type of magic out there.”

“Such as?”

There’s a reason he’s not suited to be an instructor. He can’t handle a series of questions being thrown at him. Damn the code of librarians.

“Elemental types. Specialized skills using manmade objects. Natural types.”

“You sound like you’re just rewording a bunch of the same words.”

 “Sit. I’ll just show you.” Jihoon huffs.

“Should I grab a chair?”

“Just sit.”

Jihoon stares at a blank space of a wall. He should’ve asked Mingyu and Jeonghan beforehand about a flashy way to display his magic. Jihoon only knows subtle magic as well as breathing.  What would impress this kid? A brief image of two boys laughing flashes across his mind. That trick should work, even though he hasn’t performed that one in a long time.

He hums. The sound of his voice fills the temple. It reminds Junhui of the church bells for a wedding.

A breeze ruffles the human’s hair. Laughter? Junhui turns his head to locate the source of the faint laughter. As he turns his head, he notices the loose papers by a shelf fluttering. His shirt picks up in the wind. When he turns back, a whirlwind surrounds the librarian. The man himself is untouched by the winds.

He realizes that the librarian is singing. The winds are amplifying his voice. The song bounces off the walls and shelves. Everything that it touches hovers in the air. The books shake loose from their cozy spots on the shelves. The boy watches in wide eyed wonder at the sight. From the corner of his eye he spies the top of the bookshelf- at his eye level?! The human looks down. His feet are well above the ground.

“Jihoon-ssi!”

The librarian stops his song. The books fall to the ground. As does the boy.

“OOF.” Well that didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would. Wait… there’s something black and furry under him. He sees a dog that cushioned his landing. He immediately clambers off. “Ahhh I’m sorry!! Are you okay?!” He pets the dog. “Thank you for saving me.”

“Jihoon! That spell is dangerous if you’re not careful.” The dog barks at the librarian. “Are you okay?”

Junhui swears he can see the librarian’s hair stand up. “...Yeah.” The dog is talking! Is that really a concern though? He was just floating in the air with hundreds of books.

“I don’t need you to tell me that. I’m not a noob.” Jihoon starts collecting the fallen books, “Mingyu, where’s Jeonghan?”

“I’m here~” A voice drags out. “Sheesh, Mingyu why did you run off like that?” Jeonghan straggles in with bags of groceries. He throws himself on the ground upon arrival.  “Oh! Jun! You’re here!” He raises his head to greet the boy.

“For someone who’s an owl, you certainly spend a lot of time on the ground.” Junhui responds back.

“It’s a good resting area. It takes too much energy to go rest on the top of the bookshelves.”

“Don’t listen to him Jun, Jeonghan knows how to transform into an owl before you even blink. It doesn’t take that much energy.” The dog quips back.

“Mingyu, how long are you going to stay in that form?”

“The dog is a familiar too?” The boy asks. The three stare back at him blankly. At each other, then back at the human.

“Are- are you used to talking animals?” Mingyu finally asks.

“Should I be?”

“No.” Rings three voices.

“Well… I’m not.”

“Oh thank goodness.”

Jihoon sighs. This human is quite a handful without having to do any magic.  “We should be getting you back.”

“What already!? But I haven’t been here that long. I want to know if I can do magic like Jihoon or Jeonghan? Is it possible for me to do magic like you two?”

Jeonghan chuckles, “One question at a time. But time is a bit distorted here, so come back tomorrow.” He picks up the human child...

“Huh?! Wait Jeonghan!” Junhui realizes a moment too late.

 ...and tosses the child through the door. “Bye Juuun~.”

 

Junhui lands on his butt. “Fine. I’ll come back every day if I have to, for answers.” He announces to the mountain.

“Junhui, who are you talking to?”

Junhui blushes, “Oh hey Joshua hyung. What are you doing out here?” He stands up, brushing off his pants.

“I’m looking for Chan’s repellant charm.”

“He lost it again?”

“Yeah, he lost it while playing out here with Seungkwan apparently.”

“How long have you been looking?”

“Let’s see, the sun is setting, so…. Three hours?” Joshua holds up three fingers.

“Hyung! Chan’s grandma can make him another! You need to get some rest.” Junhui pulls Joshua towards town. He misses Joshua glaring at the eyes watching them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so why does only joshua notices the eyes??? *thinking emoji*  
> next week I'll probably start posting one chapter a week.


	7. The charm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunt for Chan's charm continues!

The hands shut the book. _Junhui. It’s time for you to go home._

Junhui wakes up. He had that dream again. There was someone there, reading to him. The voice was so comforting and familiar. His fingers touch the tears running down his face. He sits there trying to remember the dream. It’s no use. The dream is gone. He looks at the sun hitting the floor of his room.

“Junhui hyung!”

He frowns hearing Chan’s voice. Why is Chan here so early?

The door slams open. White feathers float into the space. Chan is covered in feathers.

“You really do attract all sorts of things, don’t you?” He says wryly.

“Hyung!” The younger whines. “This is serious. Grandma says she can’t remake that charm. Seungkwan hyung and Joshua hyung already went out to look for it.” He sighs, “I tried to go look but as you see the chickens attacked me.”

“Got it. Let me get ready.” Junhui rolls out of his bed, chuckling. “Guess today isn’t your lucky egg.”

“Hyung!”

 

He runs straight to the mountains. If Joshua hyung hasn’t found the charm by now, they need extra help. Maybe magic help. He hits the library entrance running. He’s greeted by the books’ silence.

He looks around. Surely, they all can’t be gone. Walks through the shelves he’s seen Jeonghan and Jihoon hang out in.

“Jeonghan? Mingyu? Jihoon-ssi?” He walks towards the kitchen. “That’s odd. I wonder where they all went?” His footsteps echo in the library. There really is no one here. The kitchen is empty.  He leaves through the back door.

A voice calls out to him a moment too late. The boy has gone through the doorway.

 

His feet land on soft grass rather than the rugged ground by the mountain. Junhui looks at his surroundings. Instead of returning to the base of the mountain like usual, he’s on the south side of the town. Right next to the river.

“How did I get here?” He ponders aloud, “Maybe that door takes me to a destination I’m meant to be at rather than where I should be? But that doesn’t make sense.” 

Something flashes in the corner of his eye. In the river, Junhui spies it. The sparkle at the bottom of the river is the charm. He’s not sure how he knows, but he’s absolutely certain it’s Chan’s charm.  The river is known for being really deep and the rushing waters have drowned people. But Chan needs that charm. He takes off his shoes and socks. He takes a running start and dives in. Before the water swallows him whole, he hears a voice yelling his name.

The water pushes and pulls at him. The current is too strong to open his eyes. His hand blindly grabs at some rocks. His head is pounding from his lungs’ weak capacity. 

AIR.

He needs air. His arms aren’t strong enough to break the surface. He feels himself sinking and being carried away by the current. If this is how he dies, then at least he got to meet a librarian before he died.

_Junhui._ An image of a tall dark-haired man he’s never seen before flashes in his brain. _Junhui take a deep breath. It’ll come to you easier if you relax._

He breathes. The water is no longer suffocating him. His eyes open. The current has disappeared. He can swim again. He sees the green charm. He snatches it from the bed rocks and swims toward the surface. His head breaks the surface of the water. It’s never been so good to see the skies before.

“Jun!” He spies the librarian on the banks of the river. Relief is etched onto the man’s face. The expression is short lived as it is quickly replaced by the librarian's angry yelling.

“IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?! DIDN’T ANYONE IN YOUR TOWN TELL YOU NOT TO ENTER THE RIVER!”

Next to the human, a huge black Labrador starts pulling him back to the shores. The boy hangs on tight to the dog. Once the two reach the embankment, the dog changes into a young human male. Jihoon throws towels at them.

“I can’t believe you went out there. Why did you even go out there?”

Junhui unfurls his fingers to reveal the green charm. “My friend needs this.”

“That was worth risking your life for? A charm?” Jihoon is dumbfounded. This charm has no importance nor magic in its core. Humans are truly strange dumb creatures. But shouldn’t he have known this already?  

The boy clutches the charm close to his chest, “It’s not any charm! It’s a protection charm that my friend always has with him. It’s important to him.”

“If it was really that important to him, he wouldn’t have lost it.”

“Jihoon, even I lose things that are important to me.” Mingyu speaks quietly.

“You’re a special case.”

“He’s young! It’s not his fault.” The human clenches his free hand.  Mingyu glances at the river behind them.

“Don’t make excuses for others.” The library curtly cuts him off. “It’s a ridiculous trait you, humans do for each other.”

“Why is that ridiculous?”

“Because you’ll excuse inexcusable things. Become blind to what they’ve become.”

“Chan is a good kid, he would never!”

The librarian stares down the boy. Naivety or ignorance of humans never change. The boy defiantly stares back at the librarian.

Jihoon looks away from the boy. He notices the raised water that is strangely in the shape of the fist. He glances back at the human.

“I didn’t die, so it’s fine. If you don’t mind, I’m going back to town.” Junhui removes his towel. The watery fist merges into the river.

“Hey.” Junhui walks past the librarian to grab his shoes and socks. “Hey.” The librarian’s hand grasps his arm. “How did you get out of the river unscathed?”

“The current disappeared.” The boy responds, annoyed.

Mingyu speaks up, “That’s impossible.”

 Junhui looks up at the dog familiar. “What?”

“Do you know what you just said?” Mingyu points to the rushing water, “That river will never be calm, but yet you said the current disappeared. You were in the water for five minutes before your head broke the surface.”  He holds up five fingers.

“I was what?!” Junhui falls to his knees, mouth agape.

Five minutes?! That’s impossible. HE SHOULD BE DEAD. Whenever him and the others would compete to see who could hold their breaths the longest, he could only last a minute at best.

But then he remembers how he could breathe in the river. Maybe the gods have wished good fortune upon him? His fingers press against his lower lip, brows furrowed in concentration.  

Jihoon sighs, watching the confused human, “Jun from today onward I’m making you my student.”

Mingyu and Junhui both turn the small man. “WHAT?!?!?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next week will most likely be a short chapter! i have a wedding this weekend and a trip next weekend. suddenly i'm busy every weekend for the rest of this month .____.


	8. Day One pt1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the aftermath of swimming in the river

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW IM ALIVE AND WORKING ON THIS FIC AGAIN  
> updates are going to more sporadic sadly....  
> thank you for reading!!!

He glances at the boy. “I think you have magical abilities. Until we figure out if you do, it’s best you stay under my care.” He straightens out his back, “Besides you wanted to know if you could cast magic like Jeonghan and myself. This is a good way to find out.”

“You-you’re actually going to take him on?!” Mingyu’s jaw drop.

Junhui looks back at Mingyu, scandalized. “What’s so shocking about me being with Jihoon?”

Mingyu embarrassingly waves his hand in front of his face, “No. No nonnonononono. It’s not you. It’s him.” An accusing finger points at Jihoon.

Jihoon nonchalantly shrugs. “We better get going. We don’t want the human to catch a cold.”

Junhui sneezes as if on cue.

“Come here kid.” Junhui approaches the librarian. The man latches on to his arm. “Mingyu.” The man enters Jihoon’s shadow. The boy’s jaw drop. Winds swirl around them. “North, east, south, west. Winds lead me to the place of rest.” A magic circle glows beneath their feet. It grows with each of the wind entering the circle. The boy holds on tight to the librarian’s large robes. He shuts his eyes. The winds rush and swarm the duo.

“You can open your eyes Jun.”

His eyes peek open. The rushing waters have been exchanged for the silent company of the books. Jeonghan rushes at the boy with a large bundle of towels.

“Jun are you okay?” Jeonghan dries the boy’s hair with towels. “How did you end up in the river?”

“The river had what I was looking for.” He holds up his hand.

The owl familiar sighs, chiding the human. “As a thirteen year old, you should know better than to jump in the river fully clothed.” He turns to the librarian.  “Jihoon-ah, why didn’t you stop him from jumping in?”

“He was already in the river at that point.” Jihoon shrugs.

“Fine.” He grips Junhui’s head, “And you. I don’t want you jumping in anymore bodies of water. I don’t care what’s in them, just don’t. Got it?” The human nods. “Good.” He tightly hugs the damp boy.

“Jeonghan what about me!” Mingyu whines.

“You’re fine. You’re an immortal puppy. A little water isn’t going to hurt you.” Jeonghan coos.

“Jun, come here. I’ll dry you off. These two are sickening me.” Jihoon drags the boy to the edge of a bookshelf. “Stand there with your arms spread out.” Junhui follows. Jihoon puts a hand out. The librarian takes a deep breath.

Junhui feels the wind from Jihoon rushing past him. In a minute, his clothes are dry. “Wait so do you guys just never do laundry with machines?!”

“Are you kidding me? Laundry machines are the greatest things ever!” Mingyu hollers.

“Now that you’re dry, let’s send you home before it gets dark. This time let me send you through the doorway, okay?” Jeonghan guides the human to the back door. Junhui nods.

“Come tomorrow at ten. Promptly.” The librarian points at him.

 

Junhui stumbles onto the dirt, the green charm nearly slips out of hands. He breathes a sigh of relief, clutching the charm closely to his chest. He looks back at the mountains. One of these days he’s going to land on his feet without stumbling.

“Junhui hyung!!!”  The called upon boy looks at the speaker. He sees the familiar peach hair bouncing up and down.

“Seungkwan! Seungkwan!” He runs toward the younger boy. “I found it! I found the charm!” The charm flashes in the setting sun.  

“Hyung, where did you find it?” Seungkwan’s eyes light up.

“In the riv-. “ He freezes. There’s no way to really explain what happened at the river and afterwards.

“Riv? River? Riv… what else starts with riv?” The peach haired boy inquires. “It’s the river! Wait! The river is on the other side of town! How are you on this side of town if you found it in the river?”

Junhui sheepishly grins, “The librarian helped me.”

Seungkwan eyes the elder. “Well I suppose it was on the banks of the river, seeing as how you’re alive and not dripping nasty river water.” He grabs Junhui’s hands. “Let’s go tell Chan and the others!”

 

Junhui wakes up. It feels like a hundred bells are ringing in his head. Why does his head hurt? He remembers going back to the village with Seungkwan., and Chan’s ecstatic face at the recovered charm. The guys decided to throw a party… WAIT. Never mind, no one has any chance of securing alcohol. Then…what could it have been? As Junhui sits, pondering about the possible causes of his headache, his door swings open.

“Hyung! I came as quickly as possible!” Seungkwan appears with a pan of freshly baked bread. Pan?

“Aha!” Junhui stands up at the sudden realization. “This is why Joshua hyung says we’re not supposed to fight using pans!”

“Hyung, I apologized already! There’s not much else I can dooo!” The younger whines.

“Wait Seungkwan what time is it?”

“It should be almost ten.”

“Craaaaaaaap.” The elder boy speeds past Seungkwan, grabbing a roll. “Well thanks for the food!

“Hyung! Are you going out in your pajamas?!”

Double crap.

 

Junhui bangs on the doors of the mountain library. “Jihooooon! Let me iiiin!”

“You’re late.” The muffled voice responds.

“I just woke up!”

“What kind of teacher would I be if I allow one tardy?”

“This is my first day though! And technically I’m not your student! You said I was under your care.”

The doors creak open. The already small librarian appears even smaller standing in the entry way. “You humans and your technicalities.” Behind him are the owl and dog familiars, huge grins radiating their excitement.

“Juuun!” Mingyu embraces the human boy.

“What will I be doing today?”

 “Helping Jeonghan and Mingyu organize the library.” Jihoon waves dismissively.

The boy pouts. “Really? Nothing else?”

“It’s because you’re his first student. He doesn’t know what to do.”

“Jeonghan!” The chuckling owl familiar backs away from Junhui. The librarian doesn’t look angry, just exhausted. He wrings his hand around his neck. “I suppose I should test your affinity for each element.” His forehead develops wrinkles. “I just don’t want to stand around testing each of them.”

“Jihoooon. You know he has a water affinity. Just skip the formalities.”

“You can say that because you don’t have to do any record keeping.” Mingyu quips back.

“You do? Why just you?” The boy asks.

Mingyu sticks his chest out. “As a librarian’s main or first familiar, we’re tasked with recording librarians themselves and the charges they take on. We’re their life recorder.”

“Why would you need to record their lives?”

“So, other librarians don’t repeat similar mistakes.” Jeonghan answers, cutting off Mingyu.

Jihoon adds, “We’re creatures who seek knowledge and enjoy sharing it to those who want to use our knowledge.”  

“Does it matter if it’s for good or for bad?”

“We want to achieve harmony for the survival of all races. Librarians are not supposed to be biased toward a race.”

“And if they are?”

Jihoon feels his throat constricting. “They have to face the consequences from the council.”


	9. Affinity for water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Junhui's training starts! (someone help Jihoon too)

“Is the council that powerful?”

“They decide the boundaries in which librarians can interfere. In the past librarians used to be much more powerful.” Jeonghan cuts in again.

“What do you mean they’re not powerful now? Librarians are treated like legends. Something like fairies and other creatures!”

“It’s just that these days, magical beings no longer populate the world like they used to. Now many of the beings blend into society so well, that they have offsprings with the non-magical. Those offsprings usually lose at least half of their magic,” Mingyu replies. “The non-magic folks were pretty rare back in the day.” The dog familiar drones on about the history of how non-magic communities came to be.

Junhui blankly nods at the sudden lesson he’s receiving from the familiars. It’s interesting… but he rather just get started on doing magic. His fingers drum against his leg.

“So now the main goal of librarians is to keep the magic world alive and going.-”

Jeonghan the expert at interrupting, once again interrupts, “Mingyu, the kid is getting bored with this lesson.”

The dog familiar pouts, “Ugh if Wonwoo was here, Jun would be more interested in this I bet.”

A hand raises in the air. “Can we get started on magic now?” Impatience oozes out of the boy.

“There’s no real reason not to I guess. Mingyu, go fetch the water affinity spell book.” Jihoon instructs the familiar.

“What should I tell them?”

“I’ve taken a mage under my care.”

“Why do you not have the book here? Isn’t this a library?”

“If you haven’t noticed, I don’t have a water affinity based magic. I’m wind based.” Jihoon wants to know why this human has so many questions. The boy reminds him of those toddlers always asking how the world works, that he sees on his errands.

“Oh, Mingyu mentioned someone with the name of Wonwoo. Who’s that?” His eyes blink with interest at Jeonghan and Jihoon quickly glancing at each other.

“An old friend of Mingyu’s.”

“Ohhh what kind of familiar is he?”

“Hey! Not all of our friends have to be familiars.” Jeonghan protests.

Before Junhui can ask what Wonwoo is, a drenched dog lands right next to Jeonghan. “Mingyu! Ew go over by the kitchen. I don’t want to smell like wet dog for the whole day.”

“Those water nymphs hate me! I always manage to get soaked every time I visit the lake library.” The dog walks to the kitchen to shake off the water.

“Where’s the book?”

“Don’t worry Jihoon. I kept it safe before transforming. I’ve learned from my mistake!” The familiar stands in his human form, his black hair still dripping. His clothes cling tightly to his body, revealing muscles. Jeonghan and Jihoon look skeptically at Mingyu.

“Are you sure you were able to keep the book safe?” The dog familiar pulls out a piece of paper from his back pocket. The paper nearly tears as Mingyu unfolds it. A leather book pops out from the paper. Jihoon grabs the book before Mingyu can ruin the cover.

His hands run over the book. “Nice. You successfully kept something dry from the lake library.” He pats Mingyu with his sleeve covering his hand. “Okay kid, take this.” Junhui accepts the book.

“Jun how about you try to pull out the water from Mingyu’s clothes?” Jeonghan prompts.

“Okay!” The boy puts out his hand. Palm facing the wet man. He wiggles his fingers. He puts down his arms. “Um… nothing is happening.”

“That’s because you didn’t read the book.”

“You mean… I have to read it all the way through?” The space between his brows wrinkles with confusion. “Why did Jeonghan tell me to try summoning water out of Mingyu’s clothes then?” He starts to pout.

“That’s what you do with a book, yes.” Jihoon facepalms. “This isn’t some manga. You don’t magically gain power up and knowledge of your magic just from having the book. Jeonghan likes to instigate sh-stuff.”

Junhui looks up at the mention of manga. “Do you have manga in here?”

“This is a library. We have all sorts of books.” Jihoon quickly inserts, “But this library mainly holds books on survival and fighting skills.”

“Then I can learn martial arts here!”

“Focus! We’re trying to see if you’re a mage or not.”

“Excuse me?” Mingyu interrupts. “Can I go grab a towel? I can still get sick even if I don’t need food.”

“Junhui try again.” Jeonghan suggests.

“No try again after reading a few pages of the book, at least.” Jihoon looks incredulously at the owl familiar.

Junhui’s shoulder slumps. “Fine.” The boy sits from where he stands. He stares at the dark brown leather cover.

A deep familiar voice appears in his mind. _It’s okay. Just open the book. There’s an adventure waiting for you within the pages, Junhui._

 The boy takes a deep breath and flips open the cover. As soon as he flips the cover open, a light shines from the pages.

The three shield their eyes. “Well that’s new.” Jeonghan remarks. His eyes are completely shut against the bright blue light.

“Um… should we pull away the book?” Mingyu looks at his master.

Jihoon snaps the book shut with a small gust of wind. “Jun?” No book has ever shined this brightly upon anyone opening just the cover. Did the book take a strong liking to the boy?

The boy blinks rapidly.  He stretches out an arm towards Mingyu. Without a single word passing his lips, water is coaxed out of Mingyu’s clothes with the beckoning of his fingers. The water droplets combine into a huge ball in front of the dog familiar. The three slack-jawed, eyes wide open beings stare in disbelief.  His outstretched hand starts to waver. The ball of water splashes onto the concrete floor.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” Junhui covers his ears in his panic.

“Don’t worry about it. Jihoon can dry it off.”

 The said being is roughly patting down Mingyu. Not a single trace of water in Mingyu’s pullover. The human hadn’t even flipped to the first page or recited a spell. Okay he was wrong. Apparently normal humans can power up like protagonists in manga. How could his raw power be this strong after just opening the cover? He’s going to have to send Jeonghan to find if there are any records of this happening before. The only other case of a mage unleashing his unharnessed power was elf eared boy from a thousand of years ago.

Mingyu taps the smaller being’s shoulder. Jihoon looks to where the finger is pointing. There’s a giant puddle pooling on the ground. The human is frantically waving his hands at the puddle. He can’t see Jeonghan’s face but he knows the owl familiar has a mischievous grin decorating his features.

“Junhui. Stop. You need a spell in order to summon that water orb.” The boy’s brows burrow toward the center of his face. Jihoon wrings his neck, sighing “Usually for first timers to magic, you need a spell to do anything.”

“Then how was I able to get that here?” The human points at the puddle he caused.

“Frankly, you’re odd.” The librarian deadpans.

“Jihoon.”

He rolls his eyes at the scolding tone. “Okay, you’re odd in the fact that you haven’t even bonded yourself to your element. Yet you were able to stop a river current and pull out water from clothes.”

“So?”

“Human mages are naturally weak to performing magic compared to mages of other species. Your bodies can’t harness that much magic. So you guys use a lot of tools to help harness it. Bonding makes it easier to use your elements.”

“Why is there so many things to keep track of?!”

“Any power gained comes with responsibility,” Jeonghan gently smiles. “Let’s bind your element to you first. Repeat after Jihoon.” He nods at the librarian.

Jihoon takes a deep breath. “Before you repeat after me, hand me the book so I can look up the incantation for water binding.” Junhui hands him the book. “Okay after me now. From sea to air-“

“From sea to air,”

“Droplets to vapor,”

“Droplets to vapor,”

“Now before me,”

“Now before me,”

“Water, I command thee.”

“Water, I command thee.” There’s no mist or anything. If anything, it’s quite disappointing especially after the light from the book. “Am I in control of water or not?” Junhui puts his hands on his hips.

Jihoon dryly responds, “Did you expect every moment to be magical? Now go find a towel to soak up this puddle. Mingyu, go get towels and a bucket after you go dry your hair.”

“Thanks for remembering me.” Mingyu scoffs.

 

Three hours later, the only thing the duo managed to get accomplished was Junhui’s spell for water manipulation and about 30 puddles all over the floor of the library. The boy is sweating enough to make his own miniature puddle. Jihoon frowns at the still barely standing boy.

“Jun, come here.” Jeonghan calls from the kitchen table.

He wipes off the sweat on his forehead, “No. I need to get one of these puddles to the sink.”

The familiars share the same done look. Mingyu goes over and picks up the sweaty human. “Done is done. You need to rest for all the magic you just expended. If you don’t, you’re going to collapse.”

Junhui tries wiggling out of Mingyu’s grip, “I can still keep going!”

“Jihoon can’t.” The boy takes a look at the librarian. The being hadn’t exercised any magic during his training session. Yet he looks exhausted beyond belief. “I’m going to take you home, since I’m pretty sure you can’t even walk right now.”

“Fine.” Junhui reluctantly agrees.

 

“Jeonghan can’t you be Jun’s teacher?” The librarian clings to his owl familiar as soon as the duo enters the backdoor.

The familiar takes a bite of a doughnut. “No way.”

“But you’re so much better at this than I am. I don’t even know what to tell him. I can tell he wants to work to the best of his ability but I don’t have the ability to tell him to stop.”

Jeonghan pats the smaller man’s head, “I’m only good at this, because I was once a teacher.”

“Sometimes I can’t believe you agreed to be my familiar. You had a good life.” Jihoon rests his head on Jeonghan’s shoulder.

“The past is the past, Jihoon-ah. Just like you need to tell Jun about Wonwoo.” The librarian pushes himself off Jeonghan immediately.

“No! What if he loses control of his magic because I tell him what happened to Wonwoo?!”

The owl familiar sighs. “Fine, I’ll let you tell him when you think he is ready to know. I’ll go look for the records now.”  Jeonghan opens the door. An owl flies out of the mountain.

“Are you ever going to tell Jun about Wonwoo?” Jihoon nearly falls from shock. Mingyu appears out of nowhere with the shadows of the bookshelves blending in with his black fur.

“How much did you hear?” The librarian wryly asks.

 “Jeonghan suggesting you to tell Jun about Wonwoo.” His tail doesn’t wag. “I think you should tell him sooner rather than later. Wonwoo was someone important to the boy. Just as the boy was important to Wonwoo as well.”

“Well look at you, noticing things like that. When I first had you, you were so oblivious to everything that you caused mini messes wherever we went.” Jihoon ruffles Mingyu’s fur. Mingyu huffs. “Fine. I’ll tell him before he finishes learning everything. Okay?” The tail wags excitedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my god its been so long since i wrote nearly 2k worth of an update for this. Thanks for waiting and reading!


	10. Resting is good

When Junhui wakes up, he’s shocked to see the pile of bread next to his bed. “Mooooom, why is there so much bread in my room?”

“Junhui?!” His mother rushes into his room, “Junhui! Oh my god you’re awake!” Junhui is swallowed by his mother’s embrace. “Thank god!”

“Mom! What’s wrong?” He tries to speak from under his mother’s arms. He wipes a tear from her face.

“You were sleeping for three days, Junhui. I wasn’t sure if you were going to wake up again.” She combs through his hair. “Seungkwan came by and brought a pan every day.”

“Mom, wait. Did you say I was asleep for three days?!” She nods, sniffling.

“I didn’t know what to do. I found you passed out on our doorstep. There was no sign of injury anywhere.”

Passed out? On the front door? Junhui doesn’t even recall coming home after him and Mingyu left the mountain. He wonders how the small librarian is holding up.

“Mom I’m so sorry!” Junhui hugs his mother tightly. “I didn’t mean to worry you! My body was just very tired!”

“Why were you so tired though?”

Crap. “I…” He darts his eyes to the mountain of bread by his bedside, “…have been wandering up and the mountains quite a bit.” He can feel his mother’s eyes inspecting his lie.

“Your clothes have been smelling like the grasses by the mountain side,” She sighs. “Please don’t tire yourself like that again.”

“Okay, mom I promise.” He gives her his most assuring grin while wiping the rest of the tears.

“Good. The boys will come over soon. Go change.” She rustles his hair.

Junhui turns to munch on one of the rolls from the bread mountain. He takes a bite. Nice! It’s a sweet potato roll and it’s still fresh.

“Oh my god! Hyung I heard you woke up!” Seungkwan bursts into the room. The blonde-haired boy envelops Junhui in a hug smelling of freshly baked bread.

“Seungkwan!” Joshua’s soft voice rounds the corner.

“Hyuuung!” Chan comes running into the room after Seungkwan. The gray-haired boy jumps onto the bed. “You’re awake!” The charming smile of the youngest disarms Junhui from yelling at him.

“Guys! Don’t bother Junhui like this.” The being of reason finally enters the room. “He needs proper rest.”

“But he’s been resting for three days,” the youngest whines.

“That was simply his body resting because he’s expended too much energy. Now he needs to properly rest his body and mind together.” Joshua pets Junhui’s head. The latter nearly purrs into Joshua’s hand.

“Are you sure you’re not part cat?” Seungkwan looks up at the elder.

“Yes!” Junhui turns the hug into a wrestling match. Joshua sighs as Chan roots for the elder. Soon the eldest drags in Chan to the tussle.

 

Junhui wakes up to find a passed out Chan and Seungkwan on his bed. What time is it? Joshua is sleeping in a corner in a burrito blanket. There’s a shadow casted onto his bedroom floor in the shape of an owl. Jeonghan hoots and flaps his wings upon seeing Junhui awake. The boy motions for the owl to be quiet, but Jeonghan continues hooting away.

“What is that noise?” Chan groans.

Seungkwan throws a pillow at the window and Chan. Junhui watches nervously for signs of stirring from Joshua. He tries to signal to the owl familiar to hush. The owl winks and flies off. He supposes this means that he has lessons tomorrow.

 

“You’re awake!” Mingyu the dog pounces on Junhui. Unfortunately, Mingyu forgot to account for his weight on jumping on the boy. Fortunately, dog Mingyu still has quick reflexes. Junhui lands in a backbend over the dog somehow.

“Mingyu!” The scolding tone echoes around the walls and books. The small man appears on the top balcony, “Good Jun, you’re finally up and walking. We can continue your exercises. Start stretching.”

“Whaaaaat? I want some sympathy.” The human complains.

Jeonghan chuckles, “You’ll get no sweet affection from Jihoon. He’s basically a stone compared to me and Mingyu on affection.”

“This time we’ll keep to small basic magic to avoid you from overworking your body like that.” Jihoon lands quietly next to Mingyu. “Now do windmills with your arms.”

“We didn’t this the other day!”

“It’ll improve your summoning speed!” Jeonghans smiles.

“Really?”

“No, don’t listen to Jeonghan with those kinds of comments.” Jihoon grabs Junhui’s arm and starts swinging it.

 

Junhui is certain some of these exercises are useless for magic. Like pinwheels and windshield wipers. He’s literally just throwing around his arms. Even though all three insist that these exercises are useful, they’re not the ones looking like fools.

With Junhui around, Mingyu and Jeonghan’s trips to town lessen a considerable amount. Jeonghan finds it nice as he has more time to read the collection in the library. Mingyu makes Junhui his personal grocery deliverer. The human boy swears he’s gaining arm muscles from the sheer amount Mingyu makes him buy. Jihoon still runs into town to perform his other duties as a librarian. Very rarely does he drag the boy along. Reasons being-

“What exactly do you do on these rounds?”

Jihoon sighs. Because the boy never shuts up long enough to listen. “Help cure any ailments that your health specialists can’t. Provide medicine, see if anyone has any rare books I can copy, or if there is a book someone requests from the library I deliver it.” He pauses to see if Junhui is paying attention. “I need to teach you how to locate books for those who request the-.“

“Hyung!”

The two turns to the voice. “Ah Seungkwan!” Junhui’s voice lilts up. The two humans embrace each other tightly. “Seungkwan, this is my instructor, Jihoon.” He leans in, “The librarian I’ve told you about-.” His teacher is frozen. His normally pale face is even paler than normal.

“Jihoon-ssi?” He waves his hand in front of Jihoon’s face. “That’s weird.”

Seungkwan turns around to someone calling his name. “Sorry Junhui hyung! Noona is asking me to return to the oven.” He rolls his eyes. “As if I want to be serving burnt boo-berry muffin. I’ll see you around later! It was nice meeting you, Mr. Librarian!” The younger boy waves good bye.

Junhui turns around to Jihoon. The librarian still hasn’t moved. He racks his brain trying to remember if the familiars have told him how to handle a frozen Jihoon. The only thing he can think of is how to wake up the librarian which is useless here. First, he tries pushing the librarian over. Only the ground beneath his feet make grooves. He tosses a bucket of water on the librarian. Nothing. Blows on his face. Slaps his face. Kick him where he thinks the balls are on the creature. Throws flour. Still nothing. WELL, this calls for drastic action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how am i only on chapter ten? wow amazing!  
> okay i'll try to update this every other week but no guarantees seeing how well i kept up my daily fic...


	11. There are too many snaps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> even though Mingyu does nothing besides waking up Jihoon, he still gets scolded with Junhui

Junhui checks his surroundings. Luckily, they’re at the back pathway from the bakery to his and Chan’s houses where most of the villagers stay away from. He walks over to the shady patch of ground by Chan’s house, “Mingyu, dog of the mist and shadows, be a good boy, and come here.” A patch of shade stands up. The shadow cracks like an eggshell to reveal Mingyu.

He shakes off the last bit of shadow clinging to him, whining, “Why did we agree to go with that incantation? I hate coming out from the shadows like a newly born chick. Newly hatched chicks are cute. I’m not.”

“You liked it!”

“That’s when you were a cute kid.”

“I made that a four months ago.”

“Yeah, well you’re definitely not a cute kid anymore.”

“Do you even know how time works for humans? I’m fifteen.”

“Yeah and I’m seven hundred and four years old.”

“I’m Mingyu and I think I’m so cool because I’m older than any human being on this planet,” Junhui mocks the familiar.

Mingyu ignores the statement, “I thought you were making rounds with Jihoon.”

“Oh, right! That’s the thing, it’s not possible.”

“What do you mean?” Junhui drags Mingyu to where Jihoon is standing.

“This is what I mean!”

Mingyu touches the frozen librarian. “Jun, why is he wet?”

“I tried dumping a bucket of water. Clearly it didn’t work.”

“Why did you also throw flour on him?”

“If I got him to sneeze, then he would unfreeze.” Junhui shrugs, “Or so I thought.”

Mingyu’s eyes narrow. “Did you say unfreeze?” The boy nods. He begins sputtering about how Jihoon froze up upon seeing his friend. Mingyu stares back at his master. Jihoon’s eyes are glazed over, almost soulless. Although they might as well be, considering how the librarian has withdrawn so far into himself. How long has it been since the last time? He turns to the boy, “When I wake him up, I’m going to use you as a shield, since you did most of this.”

“What why??!”

“I don’t need his wrath upon me. That’s why.” The dog familiar huffs. “Go stand back there but make sure you can see my hands.” He points to a spot ten meters away. Junhui obediently listens without complaint.

The dog familiar takes a brief moment to wipe off the flour that’s on the librarian’s face. Mingyu takes a deep breath. He leans forward to stay eye to eye level contact. (He looks ridiculous, nearly folded in half, trying to stare at this small being at eye level. The boy honestly tries hard not to burst out laughing. He ends up snickering.) Mingyu snaps his fingers right next to Jihoon’s left ear. One snap. Two snaps. Three. Four- what the? Why are there so many snaps?

On the eighth snap, the librarian blinks. “Jihoon-ah.”

“Mingyu?” Even though the familiar is in his human form, Junhui swears he can see a tail wagging when Jihoon speaks. Mingyu nods. “Your breath stinks.”

Mingyu rolls his eyes and straightens out his back. “Good to see you too, Jihoon.”

The librarian finally takes the time to look at himself. “Why is my robe wet and covered in flour?” He glares at them.

“Junhui did it!” Mingyu yells and sprints towards the safety of the shadows.

“MINGYU, stop right there.” The familiar freezes mid step. “And you.” Junhui is caught red handed, sneaking away from the rising chaos. “DON’T YOU DARE THINK YOU’RE ALLOWED TO GO HOME AFTER LEAVING ME LIKE THIS.”

“Jihoon please.” The boy pleads. “The rest of the village will be able to hear you screaming from here.”

A menacing aura blooms. The librarian’s eyes blaze at the duo, knuckles cracking, stretching out his neck, “You’re worried about the villagers hearing me?” His teeth grinding, “Why don’t the three of us go home so I can yell at you two idiots for leaving me like this.” Without a single pause for a breath, he huffs out his traveling incantation. A strong gale sweeps across the yard.

“Chan close the window!” An old woman’s voice hollers from a house. “Those spirits are going to get in with those kinds of wind!”

“Grandma, this is why no one comes back here!” Chan’s voice barely makes it into the gust storm.

 

The gust unravels around the trio, revealing the library and Jeonghan reading unperturbed by their arrival. But as the winds die down to reveal Jihoon, Jeonghan’s jaw drops. He falls out of his chair laughing at his master dripping wet and covered in flour.

Jihoon sighs, “Jeonghan towel.” The owl familiar chuckles as he leaves to fetch the item. He turns back to the duo attempting to run again, “Mingyu sit.” The dog familiar falls to the ground butt first, taking out Junhui in the process. “Now then, the two of you are going to listen carefully to me.”

 

Jeonghan comes back with four towels and a change of clothes for Jihoon. The two troublemakers look pitiful taking an earful from the librarian. It’s been so long since he last saw his master this worked up about something. A mischievous grin “Jihoon, you take a break from yelling at them. Their legs will be dead from all the circulation if you continue.” He throws a towel over the librarian’s head. Jihoon hpmhs.

“WAIT, that’s the reason you want him to stop?!”

“Of course. Even a puppy needs to be reprimanded every once in a while.” Jeonghan coos over ruffling Jihoon’s hair. Junhui falls to the ground trying to bring back circulation to his legs.

“Jeonghan you’re so unfair to me! Even Jihoon isn’t this mean to me!” Mingyu whines.

“I scold you all the time.” The librarian mutters under his breath. He feels brown eyes burning with fierce curiosity staring into his soul. “What?”

“You can’t clean yourself?” The two familiars burst out laughing. Junhui frowns. He’s pretty sure he didn’t say anything funny.

The librarian pouts, “It’s time to send you home.”

 

Junhui stares at the wall. Something doesn’t add up. The librarian has never froze like that on their rounds in the town before. Why would Jihoon freeze up at seeing Seungkwan?  He’s certain that the librarian has never seen Seungkwan before. Unless he seen Seungkwan before? The familiars did mention that they were several hundreds of years old. Maybe in a past life time? But that would mean reincarnation isn’t just a tale. In that case, he needs to test something on the librarian. Maybe if he found that, it would prove Seungkwan is of some importance to Jihoon.

 

_Ge!_ A high-pitched voice is calling him. It’s not his cousin’s voice, but there’s no one else in the town that would call him that. Actually… where is he? There’s brown leaves on simple slanted tiled roofs instead of the soft summer drizzle on the flat rooftops. These buildings are like the pictures in his textbook of rural villages. _Ge! Ge! I found a fox near the forest!_ He turns to the source of the voice. It’s a barefoot scrawny boy with the last dynasty era clothing, but his face is faded out. Even if he squints, he can’t make heads or tails of any prominent facial figures on the boy. The younger boy begins dragging him out of the kitchen. _It let me pet him!_ Junhui doesn’t even have to see the boy’s face to know he is beaming. Before he can respond, his foot slips on a giant ginkgo leaf.

The first thing his eyes open to is the floor of his room. He hears the sleepy shuffles of his mother’s feet. The door opens enough for his mother’s head to peep in, “Junhui are you okay?”

“I fell out of bed.” He states, even though his mother can see that.

She hums. “I told you not to eat sugar rolls with Jieqiong right before bed. It makes you move around too much while you sleep.”

“It’s fine. You can tell her my face won’t be damaged from a fall from my bed.”

“What are you two even betting on?”

“How I’m going to out beautify her.”

“Junhui don’t make those kinds of bets with her. If you end up handsome, how do you think she will feel?”

“Remorseful. Like she should.” He nods, thinking about his cousin pouting at his future good looks. “Wait a second.” The small ‘if’ of his mother’s statement comes to mind. “Mom! Are you saying I won’t be handsome? Look at this face you produced!”

His mother smiles with a soft laugh, “I think you need more sleep. The less sleep you get, will ruin your beauty.”

“Going to bed!” He dives under the covers. His mother chuckles before leaving with a soft good night. Junhui waits until he hears his mother’s door close before pulling down his covers. That boy from his dream… has he seen him before?  He examines his hand that was being tugged by the dream boy. Their hands were similar in size, but the latter had very squishy hands as if he did no work. Then again, the boy had seemed like he was around six, so it was probably squishy from baby fat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: delays the explanation of jihoon freezing, also has no patience and thus posts a chapter a week later


	12. withdraw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> junhui wants answers. we want answers

Junhui lags behind Mingyu as they walk out of the town with seven bags of slivered almond and ten bags of powdered sugar and cream cheese. They walk past Seungkwan’s house. “Hey Mingyu, you know Jihoon pretty well since you’re his familiar and all, right?”

The familiar is munching on a chocolate pastry, “Yeah. Why what’s up?”

“Do you know who Seungkwan is to Jihoon?” Junhui watches as Mingyu freezes and quickly swallow his pastry.

“That. That I can’t answer.” Mingyu’s grip on the grocery bags tighten.

“Why not?”

“It’s something I don’t know about.”

The human judges the familiar’s head looking everywhere. “You’re an awfully bad liar compared to Jeonghan.”

Mingyu’s shoulders cave forward with a soft whisper, “It… it was a bad time in Jihoon’s life when they knew each other.” He straightens out his back. “OKAY. Timetogogreattalk.” He snatches the almond bags from the boy, “Seeyoulaterbye.” He jumps into Junhui’s shadow, before the boy can ask anything else.

Suspicious. Now he definitely he needs to find it.

 

Junhui springs out of bed. Today would be another day of lessons at the library, the perfect time to test out his theory. The familiars would be out running other errands for the librarian, so an even more perfect opportunity.

When he arrives at the library, Jihoon kicks a filled bucket toward him. “Today we’re going to start your lessons on making a reflective surface.”

“Water is already reflective though.”

“Not all water is still enough to be reflective. You’ve somehow managed to prove that you’re sufficient enough in basics.”

“It only took two years of pinwheels.” Junhui mutters.

Jihoon glares at him and kicks the bucket again. “Focus on making the ripples disappear.”

“Do I just pinwheel to make it stop?”

The librarian scoffs, “I’m not a water mage. You’re on your own. I’ll come back in an hour or two.” Jihoon walks away leaving the boy with the bucket.

 Junhui preens into the bucket.

Watching the water ripples grow, reminds him of something. Of something long ago…  His brows furrow, at his brain struggling to grasp the straws of what this could possibly remind him of. Really though, why would water ripples remind him of anything? It’s just water rippling across a surface… He can see a boy was skipping stones from his hiding spot among the reeds. The reeds rustle as he tries to get a closer look at the boy. There’s something familiar about that face.

Junhui blinks. There are no reeds surrounding him. There is no boy skipping stones. He’s in the library trying to make the ripples cease to exist. He frowns. He knows his imagination is pretty good (nowhere to the level of Chan though) but there’s no way he could conjure up an imagery like that. It felt like he was in the water, feeling the reeds that he pushed out of the way to catch a better glimpse.

Odd.

“Didn’t I tell you to make the ripples stop?” The human startles from his trance.

“What is this?” Junhui peers back into the bucket. Instead of still water there’s little reed plants growing from the water.

“Pretty sure that’s my line.” Jihoon scratches his head. “I was only gone for thirty minutes. What did you do?”

“I-I…,” Junhui thinks for a moment. As far as he knows, he didn’t perform an incantation or do any body motions to cause this. “…I was thinking of reeds and a boy skipping stones.”

Jihoon cocks a brow at the human. “Maybe I’ll just have you study languages for the rest of the day.”

 

“Jihoon-ssi!” He waves over the prickly librarian. “Can you translate this word for me?”

“Didn’t we go over the Latin vocabulary last week?” Jihoon fusses but still walks over. “Which w-.“ The rest of the question dies in his throat as his body stills. On the pages, lays a picture of Seungkwan.

“Jihoon-ssi?” Junhui waves a hand in the librarian’s face. He pushes the librarian for good measure. Jihoon doesn’t budge. He mutters, “How does it go? Several snaps and then his name? Crap. I should’ve paid attention better when Mingyu did it.” He snaps in each ear until he thinks it adds up to ten and then whispers the librarian’s name. He holds his breath. He blinks once. Then twice. The librarian is still frozen. “Maybe it was less than that?” He tries snapping in each ear up to nine. Nothing. Eight. Nothing.

Junhui groans. Why did there have to be more than four snaps? Who made this thing up? He wants to fight them. He crouches, trying to remember exactly how Mingyu did it. His mind recalls the snaps… oh!

He bends his knees to be at eye level with the librarian. In Jihoon’s left ear he snaps eight times. “Jihoon.” Junhui watches as the still librarian comes to life.

“Jun?” Jihoon blinks, before furrowing his brows, “What the hell were you doing?”

“Seungkwan does mean something to you. Why?” The librarian glares at the boy, saying nothing. Junhui stares long and hard at his instructor. “Are you going to tell me why seeing Seungkwan freaks you out or not?”

“Freak? You humans and your trend words.” Jihoon’s face turns neutral. “He doesn’t ‘freak’ me out.” He rolls his eyes.

“You stood there LIKE A STATUE FOR AN HOUR BEFORE I GOT MINGYU WHEN WE WERE IN TOWN.” Junhui stares down his instructor. “You just froze again just from a photograph of Seungkwan. I want answers.”

The librarian seems to withdraw into himself even more. The only thing proving that Jihoon wasn’t frozen was the fact he kept muttering ‘answers’ like a scratched record. Junhui hopes one of the familiars will return soon. A broken Jihoon isn’t something he’s ready to handle yet.

The librarian takes a deep breath. Junhui turns his head sharply to the being. “Seungkwan… was someone important to me long ago.” How long ago would the librarian consider it to be long ago? “He was my friend’s relative who would play with us. He…” His voice chokes. “…was like a little brother to me.” The librarian plays with the frayed edges of his sleeves before speaking again. “But it doesn’t matter now. He’s happy.”

“You’re okay with that?” Junhui can’t hide his incredulity.

“I can’t change fate.” His hands clench his robes before releasing a deep sigh, “Librarians aren’t allowed to change the flow of life. We get punished for interrupting the lives of the non-magical. We already told you that.” Jihoon turns away. “Have you started making mirrors yet? No? Then get working on it.” Junhui pouts. Discussion over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh look i answered one thing! kinda....  
> now there are more questions!


	13. dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> since when are dreams just dreams?

As a kid, he would wake up from the most comforting dreams but could never recall a single thing. Lately Junhui has been remembering a lot of his dreams. It wouldn’t be a problem say if he were like any other regular teen boy. His dreams seem more than just something his unconsciousness could come up with (which is to say he’s had a surprisingly low count of wet dreams if he were to compare with his friends).

Sometimes in his dreams, he sees a tall young man with prominent cheekbones. The man speaks with a deep voice. He doesn’t understand anything the man says, but the man’s voice brings him a sense of tranquility. They’re in a library similar to his teacher’s. Except instead of the cold mountain air, the light filters down onto the shelves like sunlight through the trees. An orange fox naps on the balcony in some dreams, other times the fox runs around the library. There’s him and another boy running between the shelves with excitement. Piles of books surround the four of them, like a fort. He can never hear the boy’s voice nor see the boy’s face. Yet these are the dreams that comfort him the most.

In some dreams, all he sees is the clear blue water that surrounds him. He’s not drowning in it, he seems to be a part of the water itself. The same man from the library is here but he’s younger. The expressions on his face are much more unguarded. When the man from the library smiles, his nose scrunches as if he heard something most delightful, looking positively boyish.

Other dreams, the rare ones, show him a boy with elf like ears softly laughing. It’s like the twinkling of bells. He’s pretty sure this is dream boy that pulled him along to see the fox, but he’s never allowed to touch him.

Sometimes he’ll bring up the dream library and the dream boy to Jihoon. The librarian will freeze and change subjects to how his studies are going. When he brings them up to Mingyu, the dog familiar always smiles wistfully with a pained look in his eyes, but says what pleasant dreams visit him. Jeonghan is the only one that seems to want to know more about these dreams. There’s no pain to be seen when telling the owl familiar.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are starting to connect a bit more i hope  
> i won't be updating this for a few weeks due to stuff irl, but i'll most likely be posting/updating other fics


	14. Chapter 14

The familiars run through the woods. Footsteps and water droplets chase after them. Mingyu dodges a sudden geyser. The geyser water forms a net around the owl familiar. Jeonghan changes into his human form before the net touches his feathers.

“I’m not that easy.”

Junhui pulls his hands apart. The web extends its reach. Jeonghan maneuvers through. “Argh! That should’ve caught you!”

“You only do simple spells that only look complicated.” Jeonghan hoots.

Mingyu stops abruptly, “Why does it smell like a swa-?”

A large geyser erupts from the soft ground beneath his feet.

“FINALLY! CAUGHT YOU!”

 

Mingyu and Jeonghan shake their fur/feathers as soon as they enter the library entrance. Brown water splatters the floor. Jun saunters in, head high chest out. Junhui huffs, with pride, “I caught them.”

The librarian doesn’t look up from his book. “It took so long and yet we’re sopping wet.” Mingyu grumbles.

Jihoon puts down his book, “There’s still much for you to improve on. You used too much water and took too long.”

The human deflates. “I still caught them.”

“If you wanted compliments, ask the familiars.”Junhui grumbles how they’re too soaked to even bother with it.  “Go home and rest for the evening. Oh, bring something good to drink tomorrow.” Junhui waves his good bye as he walks out the door.

 

“Jihoonie, you really should be handing out more compliments for him.” Jeonghan comes back with a towel wrapped around his hair.

“I told you I’m bad at this.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t improve.”

“I’m not sure why Jun’s basics aren’t improving in the slightest. It’s been several years now.”

Jeonghan hums, “True. I guess it’s time for a different approach. His complicated spells can’t last longer than a few seconds as his skills currently are.”

“What spells did he try to catch you with?”

“Lots of geysers. There was a web spell he attempted, but my maneuverability is too great to be caught in that.”

Mingyu sighs, “He knows to stop me by putting an unfamiliar smell in an area I’m familiar with.”

“Oh yeah! Very clever child, even though his skills aren’t matching what he wants.” Jeonghan wraps his arms around Mingyu’s neck, to be piggybacked.

“I wonder if he realizes the thing that’s holding him back.”

“Considering his current background, it’s safe to say -JEONGHAN LET GO.” Mingyu tries to shake off the owl familiar.

 

 

Junhui puts down his book, “Jihoon-ssi, why do you always glare at me?”

“I don’t always glare at you.”

“Do so. It’s been five years since we first met.”

“Have I really been training you for that fucking long?”

“Jihoon! There are children around!” Mingyu bursts into the conversation from the kitchen.

“I’m not a child, Mingyu! I’m 18!”

“Talk to me when you’re 100!”

“Guys, shut up!” The duo immediately shuts up. “Why are you two bickering again? It’s like raising two kids.”

The two look at the librarian offended. Jeonghan is chuckling from the upper balcony. “Jihoon, they are children compared to your age.”

“Well as a human, I’m considered an adult.” Junhui crosses his arms.

Jihoon brings up, “And yet a child could do better than you in making a perfect mirror.”

“I can do complicated spells!”

“To make the complicated spells more effective, you need to have a better form of your basic magic. Mingyu, Jeonghan I need you to run to the council office.”

 

“Jihoon-ssi what’s this?” Junhui wrinkles his nose at the concoction.

“We’re trying something new. Go sit on Jeonghan’s bed.”

“This is a memory potion. It’ll allow you to remember all of your past lives.” He hesitates. “It might be a painful experience. You’ll remember how you died.”

“But this will help me gain better control of my magic, right?” Jihoon nods. Junhui looks at his teacher, unwavering, “Then I’ll do it.” He shoots back the potion and passes out immediately.

Junhui is slammed with memories. Memories from when he first met Wonwoo. Not as a human but as a water nymph. Wonwoo is a young librarian who oversaw a library in a beautiful clear lake. Junhui visits the library daily to catch a glimpse of him. This Wonwoo is shy and stares at the lake to avoid talking with his mentor some days.  The two often trade pleasantries. One day while Wonwoo is away on official business, someone pours acid into the lake. He can feel the burning sensation of the acid on his skin. It feels as if his skins and bones are melting. He can’t stop from screaming. It scarred many of the water nymphs and killing those who couldn’t protect themselves from it enough. Slowly the lake became polluted, killing him and his remainder fellow water nymphs.

The second life, he’s a young human boy. He had followed his friend into a strange building they discovered in the forest by their village after following a fox. Once again, he had fallen in love with the librarian, but his life ended too soon. His village is attacked on his 14th lunar moon festival. The last thing his previous self remembers, is running with his friend and Wonwoo’s fox through the woods.

He can feel himself running out of breath. He has eyes trained on the fox in front of him. He’s pulling Minghao for once. The younger boy is scared. They have to keep running. Their pursuers won’t stop until they have Minghao. It’s one thing to be a regular kid, and then discover you’re not when your village is under attack for hiding your existence. Suddenly the fox in front of them stills.

“Hoshi?” The boys approach the fox slowly. The fox turns into a man with fox pelt right before their eyes. It’s when Junhui takes the first step towards the fox familiar, does something feel wrong. Something fires towards Minghao. Junhui pushes the younger boy out of the way.

He doesn’t feel a thing. Suddenly the world is fading, and all he can hear are the horrified scream of Minghao calling his name as he hits the earth. The only thing he can think of how he hasn’t told Wonwoo that he loves him.

The very last memory is of a young white dress woman approaching him. She hands him a cup filled with liquid. “He said it would help you in your next life.” She smiles softly.

 

Tears are running down his face. “Jihoon.” His voice comes out croaky. Jihoon breathes a sigh of relief. “Where is Wonwoo?” Junhui tries to sit up.

“Wait don’t get up!” Jihoon attempts to push Junhui back on the bed.

“Where is Wonwoo, Jihoon? Where is my librarian?”

My librarian the human had said. Wonwoo is Junhui’s librarian, not him, not Jihoon. Even though he had overseen Junhui’s training. Of course, Junhui had fallen in love with Wonwoo. Correction, is in love with Wonwoo. He laughs dryly. This is why librarians aren’t supposed to interact with other species outside of their students. The attachment.

The human ignores the librarian’s breakdown. “Do you not know or do you not want to tell me.”

“I don’t know, Junhui. They took him away from the forest library centuries ago.”

“You watched them punish him.” Junhui’s eyes grow wide at the realization. “You let them take him away. You didn’t stop them at all.”

Terror strikes the librarian’s heart, as he gives his reply, “...Yes.” Jihoon glances at the boy’s face. All the warmth and naivety have been replaced with an ice-cold frostiness he’s never seen in the human’s face. Junhui storms out through the back door, muttering darkly.

 

 

Mingyu returns with Jeonghan to the library. “Where’s Jun?”

“I let him retrieve his old memories.” He takes a shot .

“Jihoon! You shouldn’t be drinking!” Jeonghan takes the shot glass and bottle of rum from his master. “Where did you even acquire these?”

“Jun.”

“Jihoon what were you expecting from this?”

“I don’t know. For him to stop being confused about magic?”

“How fucking long have you been alive Jihoon that you still don’t understand humans?” Jeonghan slams down the shot glass. The shards cut into his clenched hands.

The sight of blood sobers up Jihoon. “Jeonghan, we need to check up on your hand.” Mingyu whispers. “I think Jihoon got the point.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise! we're starting the second half of the story  
> hopefully i will finish this by the end of september


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